Artsy Mister, Crafty Mama

One thing I really miss about Hawthorne Montessori, where Blaine went to pre-school for almost two years, is the arts and crafts they did with the kids.  Blaine learned to sew at HMS and his work, for a three year old, always amazed me. 

I've had this pile of his work sitting on top of the fridge for almost 6 months now and though I knew what I wanted to do with them, actually doing it was another story.  Finally, today, I sat down and put some of Mister's glorious work together in one place.  I'm so proud of you my sweet boy.

See that rocket in the background?  That is Mister's next project.
"Mama, I want to paint a ROCKET!"

Down, But Not Out

Something has been creeping around here lately.  Hannah got the nasty cold-bug first, starting a week ago and is just now getting over it.  Her nose has been running like a leaky faucet, her cough makes her sound like an ol' smoker, and her fever lasted for almost three days.  Frankly, I don't know why I even try to keep the kids apart when they're sick.  They all of a sudden want to share everything when one of them should be quarantined.  Try as we might to save Blaine from the wrath of this cold, he's got it now.

Mister has officially given up "The Nap" - that glorious two hours in the middle of the afternoon when everyone in the household gets some much needed quiet time.   But today is a different story which tells me that Mister is, in fact, sick. 

Nothing a chocolate donut won't fix - that is Mister's motto anyway.

On Wednesday we spent some time in the backyard doing something Mister has always wanted to do: plant a garden.  Except we didn't actually plant a "garden", we just planted some fruits and vegetables in some huge empty pots we have.  I don't have the skills or patience to plant a real garden yet  The point is that he thought it was so cool and is expecting to be eating from the vine this week.  I don't have the heart to tell him that the maturation time is like 70 days from now.  So every day when he checks on them he tells me they are "almost ready." 

We plated two tomato plants, a cucumber plant and two strawberry plants.  I am praying that one of these plants comes through in a big way and produces something we can eat.

Did Mister enjoy planting the fruits and vegetables?  Well, you decide:

M: Ok, first thing we need to do is get all of this old soil out of the pots.  Use your shovel and move the dirt to your wheelbarrow then take it over to the tree where we'll dump it.

B: Ok, Mama. (Inserts shovel into pot to remove dirt and meets some resistance.)

B: MAMA!  This is TOO hard.  You do this part.

M: Blaine, it's not hard.  Here, use my shovel.

B: No, Mama.  I want you to do this and I'll do something else.

M: (I do the dirty work, literally, and then after planting Mister takes over.)

B: Mama, I'll water the plants.  That's a good job for me.

After we get all the plants in their pots Blaine says to me, "Mama, when I'm a farmer someday I'm going to make my animals do all the planting.  That's what I'm gonna do!  You don't know how to plant a garden.  Your work is too hard."

My reply to him: "Yes, Son, all that jumping on the trampoline must have really put you out while I was breaking my back to plant this lousy strawberry plant that I'm sure is going to die.  I'm sure your farm pig will do a better job."

Blaine: Laughs, then pauses - "Mama, my plants gonna die?" :)

After all that hard work Mister decided to take a load off and read.

And before my mom left on Wednesday Blaine really got into the art and craft bins.  He made this beautiful picture of a heart for his Great Grandma Millie, in Michigan.

We're all excited that it's the weekend, or as Blaine calls it: "Family Day."  Hope everyone else has a great "Family Day" tomorrow :)

It's True

Blaine can do something I can't.

Sew.

A couple of days ago Blaine came home with his first needlework masterpiece (the rainbow colored fabric) and I was in awe for a number of reasons which would look great in a list (my favorite).

1. They trusted my child enough to give him a needle and thread.
2. He actually sewed the button onto the fabric.  (And it's not falling off.)
3. I don't know how to sew on a button, my 3-year old does.
4. Blaine used a needle and thread and no-one was hurt.

Awe.  See?

I also love his art of story telling and imagination.  Today, when I picked him up from school, he was walking around with only one shoe on.  He and his teacher looked high and low and couldn't find it anywhere, even though there was only really one place it should/could be.  Finally, after much searching he looked at me and said in all seriousness, "Mama, I'm pretty sure my shoe came alive and walked itself home."  To that I answered, "Well, I was home buddy and your shoe didn't show up."  After a brief pause he said, "No, I think it just came alive and ran away. Gone."

I'm happy to report that his shoe was found in another child's cubby.  It did not come alive and I don't have to worry about some random shoe knocking on my front door.

Blaine also told me tonight that when we give Hannah to him, she won't cry anymore.

Yeah, that'll be the day!

Almost 23 Months... Missed the 22 Months update

Ooops! Who noticed that I missed the 22-months-old update...anyone? It just slipped by and then was packed away with the Christmas decorations. So here I am doing the 23 month update, early, I might add. :)

Blaine continues to amaze us. He is all-boy. His hugs and kisses and love make us melt and he gets sweeter by the minute. He also gets more, ahem, how shall I say it - - difficult - - by the minute. He now knows how to tell us "No" and he uses this one quite often - actually, all day long. One cute thing he is doing is asking "what is this, Mama". For example, today I had a red onion out for dinner and he was standing on his stool (helping me, of course) and when he noticed it for the first time he lifted it up and held it up towards my face and said, "what is dis, Mama?". SO cute! He also asks this when he hears a noise he's never heard, and he points to his ear at the same time. I kiss him and tell him how much I love him every time he does cute things like this and all the time.

He continues to enjoy art projects. Here he is with his art apron on - a gift from GG. He thinks the scissors are the best art tool right now. He'd rather cut paper than color it.

We don't use the terms "bad boy" and "good boy" at our house but try to use terms like "good choice, bad choice " or "patient" and "gentle". He really gets this and especially (on good days) likes to make "good choices". The other day we were playing in the toy room and he proceeded to take out all of the toys from all of his bins and I told him that if he took them all out (and dumped them - which I knew he would do) that he would then need to pick every toy up and put it back. He would have to make a "good choice" and clean up after himself. We played for about 10 minutes and then I went to the kitchen to make dinner. After about 15 minutes, I peeked into the front room and found him making a "good choice" cleaning up after himself, quietly and diligently, all by himself! He even climbed into the toy-box to get all of toys down in there :) This was so sweet to watch. I watched him for a while and then when he ran to me I praised him and hugged him and kissed his sweet face for cleaning up after himself. I am sure that this won't be the case when he is 15 - but a mom can dream, can't she?

I have yet to get it recorded, but B knows his ABC's (though the E-F-G part throws him off) and sings it often, unprompted. He still loves to read and before bedtime his favorite line is, "one more book, peeas." One night I read 15 books to him.

Sleep is still a struggle and we're hoping to catch a break before the baby comes. He's just not a sleeper. Never has been and hopefully he will be someday. He has been getting up between 4 am and 5:30 am for about 3 months and the pediatrician told us to push his bedtime back (so he would sleep later), so he is now going to bed at 8 pm - but he is still getting up about 5:00 am - if we're lucky, he gets up at 5:45. It's pretty grueling. And poor David... Blaine only wants him in the morning and screams bloody murder if I go into his room. He actually tells me to "go" and "get David." The experts say that toddlers his age should be getting 13+ hours of sleep and he's lucky if he gets 10, and that is with a nap! I guess we are in the stage of perpetual exhaustion. (Yawn.)

Speaking of yawning - I need to go to bed myself.

G-night.

Picasso

Here are some pictures from our art session on Friday. Notice the awesome pipe-cleaner "hat" and yes, this first picture is Blaine attempting to smile :)

Picasso (before the burn thwarted his ability)